A makeshift memorial decorates the fence outside Public Storage, a self-storage facility, on Jan. 7, 2019, in Denver. The body of 7-year-old Caden McWilliams was found in storage unit 345. McWilliams is one of the more than 1,600 children who die every year because of child abuse or neglect.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the ongoing investigation.

Steve Castro, spokesman for the Denver coroner’s office, declined to comment on whether Caden McWilliams’s body was found in concrete.

Law enforcement officials have publicly identified the boy, but Castro said thestaff in the coroner’s office was still trying to officially confirm the identity of the child two weeks after the body was found. Coroner’s investigators also have not yet been able to say whether the child was male or female, he said.

Denver police declined to comment on whether McWilliams’s body was found encased in concrete, spokesman Jay Casillas said. Police estimated that the boy had been dead since at least May.

The abuse of corpse charge states Pankey, “treated the body or remains of a person in a way that would outrage normal family sensibilities…”

The charging documents say Pankey either knowingly or recklessly caused an injury or unreasonably placed her son in a situation that posed a threat of injury to the child resulting in his death.

Pankey, 43, remained in jail Monday on a $250,000 bond. The district attorney filed formal charges against her Monday morning.

“Thanks to the tenacious work by both the Aurora and Denver police departments, we now know that young Caden was not only missing for several months, he was no longer alive. This is a terrible tragedy for the community,” Denver District Attorney Beth McCann said in a news release. “While this case will take time to resolve, it will take even longer for our community to learn and heal.”

Identifying a child’s body is more difficult than those of adults because they typically don’t have fingerprints on file, Castro said. Experts also can use dental records if they are available or DNA to confirm a person’s identity.

The coroner’s office has completed an autopsy, but has not yet determined the cause of Caden’s death. Authorities will take into account findings of a police investigation before making a determination.

“We need to get the full story from police about what happened,” Castro said. “We take into account what police actually find.”

A judge has sealed the case file and no other details on the death will be released, the DA’s office said.

Noelle Phillips, The Denver Post

A memorial for Caden McWilliams is seen on Jan. 7, 2019 in front of the Denver storage unit where his body was found on Dec. 23, 2018.

Caden McWilliams’ body was found in a self-storage unit on East Evans Avenue in southeast Denver on Dec. 23 after Aurora police sent a tip to the Denver Police Department.

Authorities have not said when Aurora police began looking for the boy or who reported him missing.

Denver police estimate Caden had been dead since late May, according to 2018 homicide data provided to The Denver Post through an open records request.

Pankey turned herself in to Denver police on Wednesday.

On Dec. 22, Aurora police arrested her on suspicion of heroin possession after finding the drug in a pill bottle in her hotel room.

On Dec. 21, police arrested Leland Pankey, who is in a relationship with Elisha Pankey, on warrant for a 2017 second-degree assault. Leland Pankey was accused of strangling her, according to court records. He is being held in the Downtown Detention Center on a $25,000 bond.

State child fatality records indicate Colorado human services at some point in the past three years likely was involved with Caden’s family. A state database shows an investigation into the death of an unnamed 7-year-old boy was launched on Dec. 24, one day after Caden’s body was found.

Caden had been a student at Ellis Elementary School in Denver during the 2017-2018 school year. The school released a statement Thursday saying the boy was sweet, performed well in academics and was a model student.

Kirk Mitchell is a general assignment reporter at The Denver Post who focuses on criminal justice stories. He began working at the newspaper in 1998, after writing for newspapers in Mesa, Ariz., and Twin Falls, Idaho, and The Associated Press in Salt Lake City. Mitchell first started writing the Cold Case blog in Fall 2007, in part because Colorado has more than 1,400 unsolved homicides.

Elise Schmelzer is a breaking news reporter at The Denver Post. She previously wrote for the Casper Star-Tribune in Wyoming, the Washington Post and the Colorado Springs Gazette. When she's not writing, she disappears into the mountains to hike and fish.

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